historia est vitae magistra
by clockwork starlight
Summary: History is the teacher of life. A 'what if Miranda wasn't the only secret River Tam has locked away in that pretty head of hers' scenario. Also some River - Cassandra comparisons. And River-babble. I love River-babble.


Historia est vitae magistra - History is the teacher of life

Not the only one to do a Firefly/Dollhouse cross over on the same idea. Mostly a comparison piece, River to Cassandra.

Lots of referencing all over the place. Most of it belongs to Joss_._ Some of it is just Greek. Some of it is just random!_  
_

* * *

She doesn't want to sleep. She dreams dreams that aren't hers but tangle her tongue and burn her eyes anyway.

-

"Electrodes, doctors? How backward. You told me they just had a chair for this five hundred years ago."

If they hadn't deadened their olfactory senses, they would have said the man smelled like money and arrogant ignorance. And a strong undercurrent of ambition. He has a handkerchief over his nose, though his eyes are fixed on the unconscious Asian nearly buried under wires.

"That technology was lost five hundred years ago; when BlueSun was known by another name, and the government had significantly less control over progress."

"There were accounts and ancient models in hidden data partitions that were recently recovered. From them this prototype was reverse-engineered. There are a number of parties interested in seeing the revival of this technology."

"Military and practical applications." The money laughs a little to himself, even if the way these two freaks seem to finish each other's thoughts is a little unnerving. "So this is the cause and the cure for humanity's sudden death? Well, let's see it."

"Apologies, assemblyman. Just a few more minutes while the Operative's imprint is completed."

"Topher Brink was a prodigy, even by today's standards. He took equipment little better than what is before you and developed it into something extraordinary; turned hours into minutes, dolls… into people. We are working tirelessly to recreate his legacy." The way the crackle of electricity punctuates his words is almost sinister.

Three feet away almond eyes shutter open. "Did… I fall asleep?" the boy asks.

-

She knows what they do, what they try to do. All the pretty children. Like Easter eggs. A little hole here, there, blow all the insides outside. Paint it what you want, an egg can't be an egg if there's no egg. If it's just a shell.

Two by two.

They opened her up like an oyster, all squishy and naked, but they couldn't find the pearls. Wanted her to catch the colors. She can hear them. _River Tam is exceptional. So promising. _

_Not a Doll. _

There are no Dolls. They're all hidden away in a toy chest. Pandora's. Topher's. Not theirs. It's rude to go through other people's belongings.

They're doing it wrong_. _

They can't do anything right.

They come in the dark. When all the good little boys and girls are sleeping. They slash the pillows, collect the feathers. Tar an effigy. And the poor children wake up stiff and confused.

Not very nice.

She doesn't want to sleep.

-

Sometimes she wakes up screaming, sometimes she wakes up sobbing. Simon doesn't know what to do with her. Kaylee doesn't know what to do with Simon. She doesn't know what to do with either of them.

In the light of a thousand suns and stars and moons, she doesn't remember her dreams, even when Simon asks her. Serenity takes her around and around in spirals and waves and particles, all around the 'verse. How many days of how many planets, without her setting foot on dirt? Centuries have passed since she came to Serenity, months since she woke up this morning and they got a job.

"Three years y'been on my boat, and still you think you can tell me what to do!" Mal has his hand on his gun.

A million days for a million stars. That's science.

Simon is adamant. "It's a central planet, and we are all varying states of wanted. I'm not letting you take my sister—"

"Kaylee!" It's a cheap shot, but Captain Reynolds is not unfamiliar with the concept.

"Yeah, Cap'n?" Simon's expression softens at her appearance, like it has every hour since he came to Serenity.

"Tell the doc that River will be perfectly fine. Y'know, aside from upstairs." He gestures vaguely at his head.

"Cap'n promises to take good care of her," she reports faithfully. She gives her doctor a hopeful look, like they don't spend all the time they can chasing each other around the bed. River doesn't know who's _-it_ any more.

Simon is weakening, but still against it. "Cassandra is mostly wealth and research facilities, with their accompanying 'security measures'. Every nook and cranny is teeming with Alliance eyes and ears."

"Cassandra brings the future." Snakes licked her ears clean, let the knowledge in.

"Well look if it isn't the little albatross herself. You want to go with me and Zoe and J— You want to go with me and Zoe, don't you?"

"The sun was unkind to her. Men were unkind to her. Still are."

"That's a yes, right?" Mal asks Kaylee quietly.

-

In the end, Cassandra walked on her own feet to meet her future.


End file.
